WENTWORTH FALLS LAKE BLUE MOUNTAINS NSW AUSTRALIA

WENTWORTH FALLS LAKE BLUE MOUNTAINS 

NSW AUSTRALIA

It’s not hard to see why a railway dam was constructed at the place we now know as Wentworth Falls. By that, I mean the township, not the waterfall. It is the only place between Glenbrook and Bell where the railway line actually crosses a watercourse.

The 1813 exploration led by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth successfully crossed the Blue Mountains because they stuck to the principle of following the ridgelines as they moved generally westward from the Nepean River at Emu Plains. When the expedition reached the cliff edge overlooking what we now know as the Jamison Valley at Wentworth Falls, they ran out of a ridgeline to follow. Turning north and keeping the watercourse we know as Jamison Creek on their left, they eventually reached its head and resumed following the main ridgeline again.

George Evans evidently crossed this creek when he retraced their route later that year, according to the plaque in the reserve beside the lake. However, William Cox and his roadmaking team stuck with Blaxland’s track in 1814/15 and headed the creek. He set up a depot near the creek which became known as the Weatherboard Hut, from his note on the map of the road to Bathurst. This appears to have been on the eastern side of the creek near the bridge over the railway line.

As soon as accurate maps began to be made by surveyors, it became clear that the road could be shortened by several miles by crossing the creek instead of going around its head. Just when this happened I don’t know, but you can be sure that Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell would have insisted on this route when the road to Bathurst was being reconstructed in the 1830’s. Charles Darwin stayed at the Weatherboard Inn on the western side of the creek in 1836 and the inn had been there for several years by then. The railway builders of the mid 1860’s naturally followed the same ridgeline as the road and so the railway crossed Jamison Creek just where it does today. Steam engines need prodigious amounts of water and there are few places on the Blue Mountains Line where it can easily be obtained. Weatherboard (as the locality was then called) became the first railhead on 11^th July, 1867 as the tracks pushed westward. So far as I can tell, the first railway dam was built at Lawson (then Blue Mountain) in that year. It wasn’t very adequate even if Blue Mountain was a good place for a watering stop. The supply at Lawson was augmented by larger dams in the valley to the north, the last of these being the ancestor of the Olympic Pool in Wilson Park.

Jamison Creek Below the Dam Wall

The line was soon extended to Mt Victoria, this extension being opened on 1^st May 1868. The chosen spot for watering engines in the upper mountains was Blackheath, originally intended as the temporary terminus. Water was pumped from dams across Pope’s Glen Creek and, as in Lawson, their descendants became swimming holes. The upper one gave rise to today’s beautiful pool in Blackheath’s Memorial Park; the lower dam becoming the duck pond. The water supply from this source eventually became inadequate and a replacement dam was built on Govett’s Leap Brook.

Further dams were needed as the next section of line was constructed, the line descending via the Great Zig Zag into Lithgow’s Valley to the new railhead at Bowenfels. This section was opened on 18^th October 1869. I believe these dams were at Clarence and Zig Zag.

Another dam on Dargan’s Creek (Newnes’ Junction) was needed to service engines on the Newnes branch line some time later.

Eventually it was decided that only the creek at Wentworth Falls could supply the volume of water for the rapidly expanding rail network. The large dam, backing up into what we know as Wentworth Falls Lake, was completed in the early years of the twentieth century and supplied water by a pipeline to watering points as far down the mountains as Valley Heights. This sufficed until electrification and dieselisation made steam engines practically redundant on the Blue Mountains by 1960.

The development of the dam as a recreation area happened over many years. It was too good a resource to go to waste and it has become the most diverse and extensive recreation area in the Blue Mountains City. Now you can have a picnic (with barbecue), enjoy the two children’s play areas, fish from the shore or the dam wall and appreciate the many water birds as you walk around the shores of the lake. Swimming isn’t recommended, however, as it is difficult to guarantee water quality when there are residential areas in the catchment. One improvement is a new, centrally located toilet block. 

Further Information:

My Video: here     "Cloudscape" Blog: here

https://johnsbluemountainsblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/links-to-all-blog-entries-and-relevant.html All Blue Mountains blogs and videos

https://johnsnewenglandminerals.blogspot.com/2013/12/list-of-all-blog-entries-to-date.html

All New England and other Geology blogs and videos

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1325599670344725659?pli=1

Limestone Caves of NSW

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1147003616874115974/2430103125095714141

Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1515863000684737715

Shoalhaven District Geology

THE CHARLES DARWIN WALK, WENTWORTH FALLS NSW AUSTRALIA

THE CHARLES DARWIN WALK, WENTWORTH FALLS NSW AUSTRALIA

The Wilson Park entrance

The track alongside Jamison Creek at Wentworth Falls leads from Wilson Park (alongside the Great Western Highway) to the brink of Wentworth Falls. It is approximately the route followed by Charles Darwin on his visit to Australia in 1836 and by thousands of others before and since.

It is a pleasant enough walk, some of it close to houses but most of it through bushland. Weeds are an obvious problem, most of which appear to be garden escapees. It improves in its naturalness as you approach the falls. Following this track reveals lots of things of interest, some good and some bad. Firstly, after years of neglect, in which the quality of the bushland markedly deteriorated, heaps of money has been spent improving the track, building boardwalks where appropriate, and providing good quality information.

 It’s a pity that it took so long and it remains to be seen if these things can be maintained in good condition. 

 Secondly, it is an illustration of bad planning. Looking back over the years since European settlement began, following the construction of the first road in 1815, one can only wonder at what those responsible had in mind by allowing huge areas of bushland to be sold off without regard to the effect on the preservation of the scenery and the natural features of the country which brought people there in the first place.                                                                          

 This isn’t peculiar to Wentworth Falls, of course – there are numerous subdivisions in inappropriate places all over the Blue Mountains and the local council has to do its best to balance development and conservation, which will never be an easy thing to do.

You can begin the walk at either end; if starting at the Wentworth Falls picnic area the starting point is the track down to the top of the falls and if entering at the Wilson Park end, the track commences next to the tennis courts.

Sign at the waterfall end

 Darwin walked from the Weatherboard Inn, which was located near the creek a few hundred metres upstream from the highway. He stayed here on both his outward trip to Wallerawang and Bathurst and on his return. He visited the falls each time, as well as Govett’s Leap, so Blue Mountains scenery obviously impressed him, though he had difficulty in coming to terms with how the valleys had formed. You can download your own copy of the “Voyage of the Beagle” by following this link to Trove and then making your selection. The account of his Australian visit makes interesting reading.

Wilson Park Finds

Extract from "Voyage of the Beagle"

Darwin had a copy of Lyell’s “Principles of Geology” with him on the ship so he was quite familiar with what erosion can do. Even so, he found it hard to believe that small streams like Jamison Creek could carve such huge valleys.

You might find the adjacent article from the Sydney Morning Herald, 11^th

October 1930, of some interest. I wonder what became of these things? The second article (Sydney Morning Herald. March 30th 1908) is about the old Wentworth Falls swimming pool, which is passed during the walk. There is a bridge across the creek at this spot. (Article is at the end of this blog).

The Wild Walks description and map of this walk may be found here. My video is here. Another interesting video on the walk may be found here 

https://johnsbluemountainsblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/links-to-all-blog-entries-and-relevant.html All Blue Mountains blogs and videos

https://johnsnewenglandminerals.blogspot.com/2013/12/list-of-all-blog-entries-to-date.html

All New England and other Geology blogs and videos

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1325599670344725659?pli=1

Limestone Caves of NSW

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1147003616874115974/2430103125095714141

Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1515863000684737715

Shoalhaven District Geology

.

GOVETT’S LEAP LOOKOUTS, BLACKHEATH BLUE MOUNTAINS NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA

GOVETT’S LEAP LOOKOUTS 

BLACKHEATH BLUE MOUNTAINS NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA

John and Sue at Govett's Leap Lookout July 2007

Govett's Leap has been one of the focal points of the Blue Mountains since its discovery in June 1831 by William Romaine Govett, an assistant surveyor with the survey department of NSW. Dispatched by Surveyor-General TL Mitchell to survey the upper Blue Mountains, Govett’s party came across the view of the Grose Valley and the famous waterfall during the course of their work. It is likely that Mitchell himself is responsible for the name “Govett’s Leap”, but this is by no means certain.

I recommend the fine publication “Blackheath Today From Yesterday”, published by the Rotary Club of Blackheath in 2005 as a good source of information on the area.

Something needs to be said about the silly stories about Govett the supposed bushranger or Govett the escaped convict. As the facts about the discovery and its naming have always been readily available, I suspect that these fictions were invented to drum up business for the tourist industry in Blackheath. You can read lots about it in the newspapers of the day by searching Trove.

The name “Govett’s Leap” applies only to the waterfall itself. It is also commonly called the Bridal Veil Falls or the Bridal Veil, which name is also used for the upper Leura Falls. As “leap” means waterfall, it is the correct and original name. The point where Govett’s Leap Road reached the edge of the valley is correctly called “Govett’s Leap Lookout”, though popular usage is hard to change.

There are 4 lookouts here: an upper and lower one at the end of the road and Williams and Breakfast Rock Lookouts below them, accessible by the Grose Valley track. I would guess that 90% of visitors don’t even get as far as the second principal lookout and a fraction of 1% make their way as far as Breakfast Rock, which is the best viewpoint and always 

Breakfast Rock Lookout from an old photograph

has been. See the Blog entry “The Princes’ Visits to the Blue Mountains – 1868 and 1881” dated 12^th August 2013 for an interesting story about the Govett’s Leap lookouts.

Govett’s Leap has always been the focal point of tourism in Blackheath. There are numerous early reports of visits to be found using Trove, including one by Charles Darwin, who came this way in 1836. He wrote the following account in “The Voyage of the Beagle” (1845): “January 18^th. Very early in the morning, I walked about three miles to see Govett’s Leap: a view of similar character with that near the Weatherboard, but perhaps even more stupendous. So early in the day the gulf was filled with a thin blue haze, which, although destroying the general effect of the view, added to the apparent depth at which the forest was stretched out beneath our feet. These valleys, which so long presented an insuperable barrier to the attempts of the most enterprising of the colonists to reach the interior, are most remarkable. Great arm-like bays, expanding at their upper ends, often branch from the main valleys and penetrate the sandstone platform; on the other hand, the platform often sends promontories into the valleys, and even leaves in them great, almost insulated, masses”.

https://johnsbluemountainsblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/links-to-all-blog-entries-and-relevant.html All Blue Mountains blogs and videos

https://johnsnewenglandminerals.blogspot.com/2013/12/list-of-all-blog-entries-to-date.html

All New England and other Geology blogs and videos

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1325599670344725659?pli=1

Limestone Caves of NSW

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1147003616874115974/2430103125095714141

Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1515863000684737715

Shoalhaven District Geology.

The view from Govett's Leap Lookout October 1958